Category — e. What to Budget for Walt Disney World

MORE FREE DINING FOOLISHNESS

My post last week where, inspired by my conversations with the Mysterious “B” about the recent flood of free dining pin codes, I inched back a bit from my prediction that we won’t see general public free dining in 2013 after September, has gotten a lot of reaction.

See for example this disboards thread starting at the bottom of the page on post number 2055, and of course the comments on the page itself, most fascinating, a few foolish.

I still don’t think we’ll see general public free dining after September, but I am not so firm on it as I had been, thanks to the delay in MyMagic+ and the resulting shortage of anything interesting for Disney World marketing to talk about to engender bookings in the non-holiday weeks of the fourth quarter of 2013.

What we are seeing, though, is a spate of pin codes, with word of more rounds of pin codes to come, a lot of hints dropped by Disney World cast members about upcoming deals (these hints could be referring to room rate deals, or free dining, or both), and some really interesting ways that people are getting pin codes.

HOW TO GET A WALT DISNEY WORLD PIN CODE

[Read more →]

MORE FREE DINING AT DISNEY WORLD IN 2013?

So I’ve forecast a number of times—most recently here—that I don’t expect to see any generally available free dining in 2013 beyond the current deal for September.

But the possibility that we won’t see Fastpass+ until January 2014 has me re-thinking this a little.

Not much.  Just a little.

There’s several possibilities, all framed around how well bookings for October to mid-December are already going:

• Bookings for October to mid-December are going fine (which is still my guess, based on how strong attendance has been so far this year): if so, then no more free dining
• Bookings for then are running a little behind expectations: then expansion of the current individualized pin-code offer, probably around 8/1
• Bookings for then are running a lot behind expectations: then expansion of the pin-code offer, possibly well before 8/1, and also a limited general public free dining deal, probably after August 6th

Here’s why I think this.

THE LOGIC OF MORE DISNEY WORLD FREE DINING IN 2013 [Read more →]

DISNEY WORLD DEAL ABOUT TO EXPIRE

There’s a Walt Disney World deal out right now that offers room rate discounts of 15% to 30% off certain Walt Disney World resort hotels.

This deal covers arrival dates from June 13, 2013 through August 14, 2013–but it needs to be booked by June 14, 2013. 

For more on this deal, see this.  For other current deals, see this.

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Disney World raised its theme park ticket prices over the weekend, with the most common ticket types going up 6-9%.

My friends at Undercover Tourist, a sponsor of this site, remind me that they still have an inventory of tickets priced based on the former prices, and will make these available until sold out.

These tickets don’t expire, so you can buy them at these old prices now–while they last–and use them on your next visit, whenever it is!

For more, see this.

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Walt Disney World instituted a ticket price increase today, and after-tax prices for the most common multi-day tickets, those with three or more days, went up 6.1% to 9%.

The highest increases are for three and four day tickets, and for tickets without park hoppers, but all prices for tickets longer than 2 days went up at least 6.1%.

A family of four buying seven day tickets will pay about $90 more.

For the new prices, see this.

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WALT DISNEY WORLD ADMISSION TICKET PRICES 2013 TO SUMMER 2014

(This page is sponsored by Undercover Tourist.)

Three types of Walt Disney World prices are important to think about:

• Walt Disney World theme park admission ticket prices—the tickets that grant you admission to the parks
• Walt Disney World resort hotel prices, and
• Park and hotel food prices

This page focuses on Walt Disney World theme park admission ticket prices from summer 2013 until the summer of 2014, when, based on past practices,  they will go up.

MORE DETAILS ON WALT DISNEY WORLD ADMISSION TICKET PRICES 2013 AND 2014: HOW THE TICKETS WORK

There are multiple types of Walt Disney World theme park tickets, but the one most relevant to most first time visitors is the Magic Your Way ticket, with or without the Park Hopper option.

You buy one theme park ticket for each person who will be three years old or older at the time of your visit (kids younger than three enter the parks for free.) The tickets have two pricing levels: one for kids who will be younger than ten at the time of your visit (but 3 or older) and the other for people ten or older.

When you buy your tickets, you also say how many “days” you want—from one to ten. Each “day” you buy permits unlimited visits to one theme park on one day. If you also add the Park Hopper option, you can make unlimited visits to any of the theme parks in one day–one theme park, two, three, or all four theme parks.

• For example, if you buy a three day ticket without the park hopper option, you could make two visits to the Magic Kingdom on day one, three visits to Epcot on day two, and two visits to the Animal Kingdom on day 3
• If you have a three day ticket with the park hopper option, you could for example make two visits to the Magic Kingdom and one to Disney’s Hollywood Studios on day one, one visit to Epcot and two to Disney’s Animal Kingdom on day two, and one to Epcot and two to the Magic Kingdom on day three
• What you can’t do without a park hopper ticket is visit more than one theme park on the same day. For example, you can’t, on November 25th, use one day of your three-day ticket to visit the Magic Kingdom, and another day of this same ticket to visit Epcot that same day. More than one theme park in a day requires a park hopper

You do not have to use your days all in a row boom boom boom—e.g. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Once you use your first day, you have 14 days to use all the days on your ticket. So on a three-day ticket you could visit the theme parks Monday, Thursday, and Sunday.

• You can also add days at the same price that you would have paid had you bought all those days at once, but have to do so no later than the day you use the last day of your original ticket (and within 14 days of the first day)
• So if you buy a three-day ticket, and realize a few days later that you need more days, you can add two days and they will cost only the difference between what you paid originally for a three day ticket, and what you would have had to have paid for a five day ticket, so long as you add these days no later than the day you use your third day
• You can also add stuff like the Park Hopper during the same day window at the same price as you would have paid when you first bought your ticket

However, you can’t “subtract” days if you overbuy.

HOW WALT DISNEY WORLD PRICES ITS THEME PARK ADMISSION TICKETS

1. While Disney typically increases ticket prices at least once a year—typically in the summer—it does not change theme park admission prices based on the seasons of the year, the way that it increases and decreases prices at its resort hotels. You pay the same amount for admission on the busiest and the least busy days of the year.

(This material, by the way, is updated as of Disney World’s June 2013 price increase, and applies to tickets bought from then until Disney’s next price increase, likely in the summer 0f 2014.)

2. Disney sells tickets by the day—one through ten days. The way it prices these days, the first three days are very expensive, while days after the third are comparatively almost free. See the image for exact Disney World prices.

For example, a three day ticket costs (including tax) an adult $279, or an average of $93 a day. A ten day ticket would cost the same adult $361. The added 7 days cost in total around $82—or less than $12 per day.

3. A park hopper costs (after tax) about $63 for all ticket lengths other than 1 day, regardless of whether you add it to a two-day, ten-day or anything in between. So a three day adult ticket with the park hopper added costs $342, and a ten day ticket with a park hopper costs $424.

I have also uploaded an excel spreadsheet with the same data in it as the image, so that you can multiply by the number of members of your own family.

4. In the summer of 2013, Disney changed its policy for one day tickets.  These used to cost the same regardless of which park at which you used them; now a one day ticket for the Magic Kingdom (including tax) is more, around $101, but for the other three theme parks a one day ticket is ~$96.  These per-park differences don’t apply to tickets with more than one day.

TIPS AND TRICKS FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD THEME PARK TICKETS

There are other ticket types than the ones discussed above—less relevant for first time visitors. For details on all of them, see this page on MouseSavers.com.

While it’s hard to find discounts on tickets, it is sometimes possible. Check sponsor Undercover Tourist, MouseSavers.com, Triple A if you are a member, and if you have military ties, this page and also MilitaryDisneyTips.com.

Since you can add on to your tickets–days, park hoppers, etc.–but can’t subtract, it doesn’t really pay to overbuy. Start with the minimum you think you need and add on later if needed.  Remember to add no later than the day you use your current last day!

All of this site’s To-Do Lists tell you exactly what ticket type you need for their associated itineraries.

FREE TICKETS ON YOUR BIRTHDAY?

Disney world no longer offers free tickets on your birthday.

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